Located in
Botswana :: Eastern Botswana/Tuli
:: Palapye
Category:
Places :: Town Medium
The modern town of Palapye started life as Palapye Road. It was the junction between two wagon trails and a camping spot beside the Lotsane River. No one ever described Palapye Road as ‘wondrous’. In fact, there was hardly anything there at all. There was an outspan place for the oxen, a tree that served as a post office, and a waterhole in the Lotsane River.
However, this changed when Cecil John Rhodes had the grand dream of building a railway from Cape Town to Cairo, running through British territory. Palapye Road started life as a railway construction camp in 1895. The camp remains are still visible on a patch of waste ground a little to the south of the railway station and one can still see the big iron water tanks on their high towers.
In 1896 Robert Bailey, one of the white traders at Old Palapye, some 20 km east of Palapye Road, saw a business opportunity. At the time Old Palapye (known as Palapye) was the capital of the Ngwato Kingdom under Kgosi Khama III. Bailey relocated his store to nearby Palapye Road, rebuilding beside the railroad tracks. It was a shrewd move that saw R.A. Bailey’s become the largest trading enterprise in the Central District, with a network of at least 13 stores. Palapye Road was the warehousing and distribution center. Goods went to the outlying stores by ox-wagon. Robert Bailey himself went on to be a member of the Bechuanaland Protectorate Advisory Council and died in the 1930’s, but RA Bailey Wholesale is still in business today.
The railway made Palapye Road strategically important during the Boer War as it became a transit point for British Empire troops. Despite its economic importance, Palapye Road developed very slowly and by 1900 there still wasn’t much there. Khama III and his 30 000 people moved from Old Palapye to Serowe, their present capital, in 1902. By the end of WW1 there were still fewer than 80 buildings, most of which were shown on the map as native huts.
In 1919 Palapye Road and Serowe became the first villages in Bechuanaland to boast airfields. Khama III could see enormous possibilities in civil aviation and built them with regimental labour at his own expense. Both were square fields measuring 600 yards by 600 yards, allowing the biplane aircraft of the day to take off and land in any direction. In the 1920s the airfield was used for tourist charter work and an airmail service between Palapye Road and Johannesburg. During the mid-1930s Union and Imperial Airways stopped at Palapye Road until the end of the war when aircraft got bigger and could fly further.
Palapye Road has always been an important meeting place of roads and cultures but it only really started to take off in an economic sense with the development of the Morupule Coal Mine in 1973. The Botswana government started to encourage industry to develop in Palapye as it had plenty of water, power stations, and transport connections.
Palapye has seen extremely rapid growth as the people have followed the jobs. Palapye Road was never a tribal settlement in the same way as Serowe; in fact, if anything it was a company town for the first forty years, dominated by the railways and a small handful of trading enterprises. With the economic boom, people have flooded in from other parts of the country and the world, following the economic opportunities.
Today Palapye is a hive of activity and home to more than 52 000 people. It is referred to as 'the meeting place' because it lies on the intersection of the A1 between Gaborone and Francistown, and the A14, between Martin’s Drift Border Post and Maun. The presence of the large Morupule Coal Mine and Power Station, the modern Botswana International University of Science & Technology (BIUST), Palapye Water Affairs, and its convenient location make this town one of Botswana’s main financial, residential and educational centres.
Palapye means 'impala' and refers to the herds of such antelope that used to be seen around the Lotsane River which runs through the town in an easterly direction. The river passes north of Tswapong Hills, where it enters the Lotsane Dam. This dam provides drinking water for the villages in the Tswapong area and irrigation for the agricultural fields around Maunatlala Village.
The combination of sandstone, ironstone and quartzite gives Tswapong Hills a rich hue. The range is said to be a billion years old, and is approximately 400 metres high and 20 km wide, stretching west from Moremi Village for 60 km. Traces of the first Bantu-speaking people in Southern Africa have been found in the gorges of Tswapong, including pieces of pottery and iron smelting ovens.
Moremi Gorge, situated 40 km east of Palapye on the Lotsane River, is home to a series of three waterfalls and lush vegetation seldom seen in this arid country. It's a national monument with great religious and spiritual meaning for the community, and visitors are accompanied by a guide from the National Museum. Accommodation is available in chalets or campsites.
Address : | Palapye, Eastern Botswana/Tuli, Botswana | ||
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Cellphone Reception : | Good | Main Cellular Network : | Mascom. Orange. Be Mobile |
Facilities : | Shopping Centre, Shops, General Dealer, Tour Services |
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Police Telephone : | +267 492 0222 / +267 942 0241 |
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Hospital Telephone : | +267 942 2742 |
Doctor Telephone : | +267 492 4763 |
Tourist Information Telephone : | +267 492 2138 |
Petrol Type : | LRP/ ULP |
Other Facilities : | Auto Spares. Fast Food. Bar/s. |
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Tours and Excursions, Mountain Biking, Boat Trips, Scenic Flights | |
More Activities : | Camping Safaris. |
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SERVICES:
Palapye has several fuel stations, supermarkets, banks, foreign exchange, a casino and butcheries. Palapye is the ideal place to fill up and stock up for your onward journey. Travellers have recommended Food Lover's Market for fresh vegetables and Spar or Shoprite for meat. You can also pre-order meat from butcheries like Bosveld Meat Market or F#k kom ons braai.
You can contact Bosveld Meat Market on +267 77 159 893/+267 73 669 441 or [email protected]. The Whatsapp number for F#k kom ons braai is +267 76 291 709.
Always check the latest status of vet fences as there can be outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease from time to time, which will result in restrictions on the movement of meat.
Tourist attractions in the vicinity are the Khama Rhino Sanctuary, Tswapong Hills and Moremi Sacred Gorge. A visit to Old Palapye is also interesting as it is a multi-cultural site going back to the Middle Stone Age. This site is to be further developed to encourage tourism. There is a great collection of historical photos in the cocktail bar of the Palapye Hotel, which was built in 1904 by Robert Bailey. It is well worth a visit.
Meat in Botswana is of excellent quality and usually cheaper than in South Africa. Pre-order your meat from Bosveld Meat Market and pick it up when you pass through.